Kiss of Winter (Finished Revised)
by Archer Freedman
Summary: How Vegeta-san and Bulma fell in love in the Android Saga...


Kiss of Winter  
  
With a flick oh his wrist, the great purple mountain which stood so greatly over the world, was reduced to nothing more than ashes and boulders. With a small movement of his lip, he grinned at his own true strength. "Kakaroto! I will soon leave you to kiss the heals of my boots. The Prince of Saiy-jins!" The arrogant young man yelled into the cold night sky. It was almost winter, and the androids were to appear in maybe two years. That is, if that purple-haired teen wasn't lying. Vegeta floated with his arms crossed, observing the heap of rubble, which was once a great mountain of the Earth. "I must... be stronger than Kakaroto!" Vegeta said over and over to himself, never forgetting the madness of his obsession. With a thought of anger, he tightened his arms, and flew off into the night.  
  
  
"Okay mom! I'm just going out to check on Vegeta!" A voice echoed through the quiet halls of Capsule Corp. A young woman walked out of the doors, and shivered from the cold air, which crisply bit her lips. She looked on over the wreckage of the training ship that Vegeta left himself in, about three days ago. Of course, being a Saiy-jin, he healed in a short amount of time, but he was still wounded... "Where did that arrogant little-" She stopped short. She looked up into the sky, noticing a bluish streak that seemed to interlace with the stars. "A comet?" she murmured with a question. Then the streak ceased to move, and then fell to the earth, and landed next to Bulma. "You idiot!" She angrily said with a smack on his head. "You are still in no position to be all macho!" She continued. Vegeta, prided with himself, looked at her and grinned. "And you are nothing compared to the prince of all Saiy-jins," He said and then walked over to the rubble of the spaceship. "I thought you were going to repair my training pod," Vegeta arrogantly said again. "You never quit, do you!" Bulma argued.  
  
  
Vegeta glanced over his shoulders, taking a look at Bulma. "I guess not," Vegeta said with a chuckle. She stood there, not answering, then looking up into the sky. "Oh, a real shooting star!" She said excitingly. The sky brightened slightly, as the golden comet flew by, with a soft aura. It glowed warmth for an amount of time, which seemingly felt like forever. Then it died off into the depths of the black night. "Who cares?" Vegeta asked still observing the ship. But he had secretly glanced at the shooting star as well, also in awe of the beauty. "Always ruining a good moment..." Bulma sighed with a laugh. "What are you so happy about?" The Saiy-jin prince asked. A moment of silence passed, then she answered, "Nothing... I just think I'm starting to understand how you think." Vegeta gave her a confused look, then replied, "What do you know about me?! You know nothing!" She sighed with a pain in her voice. "Vegeta... I know that you've been seriously hurt emotionally. Even though you're a warrior, you still have feelings... I can feel them. They are crying on the inside... Why don't you let them all go?" She asked. For once, Vegeta could not find any remark to change the subject or get her to leave him alone.  
  
  
"Leave me-" The voice cut off. "-Alone" Bulma continued. She grinned, showing off her blue eyes. Then she looked at him with a strangeness. "You are freezing cold," She said looking into his eyes. "How do you know?" He asked, not showing any signs of being cold. Then Bulma looked down to see her hands, clinging onto his left hand. "Gyahh!" Bulma jumped back, almost shocked. "What was that!?" Vegeta demanded. "Eh, I thought I saw a bug on your hand! I hate bugs!" Bulma tried covering up. "Whatever," Vegeta said walking into the building. "Hey, where are you going!" She chased after him. He walked to his room, definitely warm from the heating system of the building, and obviously enjoying it. Then with one wrong movement of his muscles, he fell onto the floor, almost in pain. A small chuckle could be heard behind the fallen Vegeta. "Mr. Tough Guy fell down, huh?" She asked. With a sharp glare, he got up, ignoring all the pain, and walked on.  
  
  
"Leave me alone," he retorted. His fists tightened as he ignored more and more of the pain, but somehow, the pain wasn't invisible to Bulma. She saw right through the acts of ignorance, and saw how much pain Vegeta was really in. "I'll get the door for you," she said softly, as she opened his door. He nodded, and then collapsed onto his bed, with a strain in his side. "This sucks," He mumbled in his breath, hating the fact he had been injured. "Can you please start rebuilding the pod tomorrow?" He asked. Bulma, almost burst with laughter. "For once, you said please! And you ASKED me to do something!" Bulma said cheerfully. "Yes, of course!" Bulma replied with a smile. Vegeta almost chuckled at her reaction. "Humans are so easy to please," Vegeta said softly. "I heard that!" Bulma instantly turned red. "You are slowing down my training, get to work tomorrow!" Vegeta basically ordered. "Is that all I am to you!? A tool for your training!?" Bulma yelled out screaming her lungs out.  
  
  
Two minutes had passed, and Bulma was in her room after the slam of her door. "I hate my life!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. She walked over to her desk, and took out a small vial, and snapped the cap off. She poured the contents into her palm, which were some small round pills.  
  
  
Vegeta was still sitting on his bed, wondering how such a weak human could effect him so much. Maybe an apology? No, never! The prince of the Saiy-jins never bows down to anyone. Vegeta struggled onto his legs, and then a click in the side of the head, tore a hole inside of him. Something terrible was going to happen, but he didn't know what. "Fine! I'll give her the damn apology!" He yelled at himself. He walked out of the room, and across the hallway, he opened the door slightly to witness Bulma, with something in her right palm. She popped it into her mouth, and Vegeta immediately knew what she was doing. "You b*tch!" He yelled as he ran into the door. He held back his power as he punched her stomach, causing her to vomit. The poison that she swallowed, had came back into the vial. "What were you thinking!?" Vegeta yelled. He carried her into her private bathroom, and had her wash her mouth out, and take a drink. "Get cleaned up," Vegeta ordered once more.  
  
  
He sat there, now on Bulma's bed. "What the hell was that?" He asked himself, hoping he could figure out how these damned humans think. The bathroom door creaked, and she walked out. She looked a little more stable, and she sighed as she sat down on the bed next to him. "So what made you try to do that?" Vegeta asked, also wondering why he cared so much. "I just... It's just no one pays attention to me. I really didn't think anyone would stop me from killing myself. You were the last person I'd expect," Bulma said with a sheepish grin. He sat there, just wondering what made her actually try to hurt herself like that. "Let's go outside," Bulma said as they both got up and walked out.  
  
  
  
Vegeta, once agreeing to go outside with Bulma, became stubborn once more. He stood on a small hill out in front of the dome building, breathing out sharp crisp steam of air through his nose, arms crossed. A small purple cloud floated over Vegeta prodigiously, above him from a great altitude. Bulma walked out and stood right behind him, quite disappointed with Vegeta. She walked over. "So I get you all the way outside, and then you look at a purple cloud?!" She argued once more. With a sigh, he raised his arm and blasted the cloud with a Chi blast. The cloud sucked up into the vacuum of the energy, and then disintegrated quickly. "I said stop looking at it, not destroy it!" Bulma half-cried. Their footprints had been marked by the dew collected on the grass, from the moisture in the air.  
  
  
"Whatever," He snickered with a grin, with the upper lip raised as usual. Then a quick pain shot through his nerves, and was on the cold grass, gasping for air from the pain in his side. "Are you o-"... "I can get up myself!" Vegeta ordered, not allowing Bulma to help him up. She backed away, now understanding the pride. "You are too proud... I envy you," Bulma mumbled slightly. "Why?" He asked. A Small fizz bubbled from the wreckage of the space pod after that, and then it echoed, getting louder. Bulma was just able to glance over her shoulder, as the space pod, not more than 20 feet from her, blew up once more. "DAMNIT!" a scream shot out, echoing in the cold air. A figure seemed to integrate in front of Bulma, then taking a human form. It was Vegeta, crossing his arms, taking the explosion.   
  
  
Bulma, holding her hands to her face, and turning away, could not see the heroic act. Pieces of metal flew into the body of Vegeta, who was still too weak to simply power his body to simply melt the debris flying at him. Of course he couldn't, even if he had the power, he could kill Bulma like that. Would he? Vegeta, integrated once more behind Bulma, not wanting her to see what he had just did. "No one needs to know about the sacrifice of my pride," Vegeta thought, kind of angry with himself; frustrated and such. Bulma, not as frightened anymore, looked around and saw the debris all around her, but she was unscathed. "Hah, I really am a goddess!" Bulma laughed, as she looked over to Vegeta. He was wincing, but he controlled the pain. "Let's go inside," Vegeta suggested as he started to walk back to the building.  
  
  
Vegeta and Bulma both went to their rooms, exhausted from the day. "Damn me to hell!" Vegeta said to himself, punching the wall, leaving small dents. "Cut it out!" Bulma yelled from her room. She was still wondering how she could have survived such an explosion from so close, without even the slightest scratch. "I must investigate this one," she thought almost out loud. She walked back to the spot, and looked around closely. At the space pod, she looked at the wreckage, and found a fuel cell, still full. "The fuel cells must have survived the first explosion, but after the pressure created on top of the cells... It must have blown because of that," she thought as she walked over and emptied the rest of the gas out carefully.  
  
  
She started to walk inside, and her mother was at the door. "Bulma, it's freezing out here," She stated. "Mom! There was a fuel explosion from the ship again, and I was twenty feet from it. But I'm not hurt at all... It's so weird," She explained. "I'm going inside... But I'll bet Vegeta knows why you're not hurt... He saved you," she said as she walked inside. "How do you know!?" Bulma cried out as her mom was walking in. "I saw it," she said as the door closed behind. She ran back to where she was standing, looking at the crash from where she stood before. A few inches in front of where she stood, were two footprints, from the dew of the grass. The metal pieces flew in every direction, but there were no metal pieces found past where the footprints were.  
  
  
She ran back inside, running up to the stairs, and walked into Vegeta's room. He stood in front of a mirror, with metal fragments lodged into his chest and stomach. "So it's true! You did risk your life for me!" She cried as she ran over to Vegeta, and tried to look at the wounds. "It's nothing I can't handle!" Vegeta said. "Vegeta, you stay isolated when you're hurt, and even when you get help, you still stay like that... Let me help you! If you understood pride, then you understand why I want to help you. Because I owe you, that's it!" She cried. Vegeta sighed as he walked to the bed, and laid on it, in a lot of pain.  
  
  
After a few minutes, Bulma came back with medical supplies. She took out each metal fragment, and applied some antiseptics to the wounds. Then she bandaged them carefully, and within twenty minutes, Vegeta's wounds were patched up. "Thank you..." Vegeta managed to say to Bulma, as he passed out from all the pain. He was near death, but wasn't going to die; Thanks to Bulma. "That's the first time I ever heard 'Thank You' from him..." She mumbled as she went to her room to clean herself up.  
  
  
  
'The stars glimmer brightly, with a numb brightness. Each star appears so small; so fragile, but are more powerful than anything that could be imagined. Ever since I was a kid, I had prided myself after having a planet named after me. But, I was too weak to defend it against a monster... Frieza. No... I was just a child then, I couldn't have beaten him. My past has swallowed my people, my planet, my father... My pride... What else must I lose to the future?' - A single tear rolled down the side of his cheek, and dropped onto the roof. Vegeta, laid on top of the roof, looking up at the mighty stars. "No! The Prince of All Saiy-jins does not cry! I am a warrior, with no other equal," Vegeta once again said softly as he became angry with himself.  
  
Vegeta sat up on the roof, still breathing out a sharp breath of heat into the ice cold air. A normal human would obtain a Hypothermia within minutes without the proper garments, but the man would resist, and face the consequences, then to be restrained by a piece of cloth. "Vegeta..." A voice said behind him. Of course it was Bulma, trying to get on the roof from her window. She climbed up, swinging her legs up, and then walked over and sitting down next to him. "You... saved my life twice... In one night," Bulma sighed. "I always dreamed of having my knight in shining armor come and save my life, grinning when he did... But, you're so noble... not taking credit for saving me," Bulma continued. Vegeta sat there, sort of stunned.  
  
"Do not tell anyone about what I did," Vegeta said, facing the other direction. "Drop the tough guy attitude already. You already got my interest," Bulma grinned. Vegeta winced and turned to her. "Why are you bothering me!?" He yelled. "Why were you crying... I see the marks from your tears. You're in a lot of pain, but I know you don't cry from physical pain... Something's wrong... I know there is," Bulma whispered to him. With a heavy sigh, he grunted and stood up. "Bulma... When I look at you, I want to treat you like another one my servants... back at my home planet... But you aren't like any of them. You are very different," Vegeta said, obviously the observant one. "Of course I am... I think I'm in love with-" Bulma stopped short, fading out as well. "WHAT!?" Vegeta yelled. But, a part of him already knew what she said. As she got up to stand up as well, her foot slid and fell off the roof.  
  
With a high-pitched scream, she fell backwards and before she knew it, she was right at the heavy ground. But when she landed, it wasn't painful... It was soft, and very comfortable. She looked over her shoulder to see Vegeta, catching her as she fell... Taking the fall for her once more. His arms, wrapped around her stomach, protecting her. Vegeta was barely conscious, since he took so much damage this night, just from protecting her. She got up slowly, unlocking Vegeta's soft but protecting grip, and bent over to him. She sit down, and placed his head on her lap, trying to revive him. Vegeta opened his eyes slowly, and realized what happened. He tried getting up, but he could not. "I am too weak... Carry me to my room," Vegeta ordered.  
  
"Hah, I can barely carry a few pillows to my room without dropping one," She laughed. She looked down into the strong and arrogant prince's eyes. She saw all the pride, all the strength of his warrior character, just looking up to her... With a silent love for her. Her head bent down, and Vegeta unknowingly, bent his head up to meet Bulma's cold lips. He was able to just barely wrap his arms around her shoulders. "I love you Vegeta... And I know how you think... I'll understand if you don't ever say you love me, but I'll know you do," She said softly. Vegeta, not sure what he was doing, just lay silent, with his lips close to hers.  
  
Vegeta was too weak to get up, and Bulma was too concerned to just leave him for a second. So she laid down, and rested Vegeta's head on her chest, softly holding it. He had saved her life three times in one night... protecting her... So just for once, she felt it was her turn to protect him this one time. To keep him from any danger. She held his head, next to hers, keeping each other warm from the biting coldness of the air. This is how they fell asleep together... Falling in love with each other. Right before Bulma fell asleep she heard something she'll never forget... "I love you... Bulma." 


End file.
